


Paper Mario: The Origami Mirror

by ScardyFluff



Category: Mario Story | Paper Mario, Paper Mario: The Origami King (Video Game), Super Mario & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Unofficial Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29320854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScardyFluff/pseuds/ScardyFluff
Summary: He should've done something...He should've realized sooner...Now she's gone, and he's breaking apart.(Unofficial Sequel/DLC based on an anonymous WMG post on TV tropes! Concept's credits goes to the Original Poster!)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 24





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story based on a WMG post I saw on TV Tropes. I loved it so much that I just HAD to make a story about it! 
> 
> This is my first Fanfic actually. So if you'd like to help out, feel free to critique the story! Please comment... and tell me how I could improve!

_Ahem!_

_Allow me to tell you a story..._  
_It is a tale of love, hope and bravery._

_Not too long ago, there once lived a young king._  
_Though he was made with love, he was evil and cruel._  
_He would never let anything stand in his way._

_But... there was one who still saw the good in his heart._

_His dearest sister._

_After a long journey, she, along with her friends, had stopped his tyranny._  
_And in his last moments, his sister helped him clear his mind, and allowed him to see the truth._  
_As his dying wish, he gave his sister the chance to undo all his mistakes._

_She took his offer, and wished with all her heart._

_..._

_It's funny..._

_How a simple mistake can change people's lives in an instant._

_This... is how our next story starts..._


	2. Prologue (Part 1): The Next Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aaa it took a while! I wanted to post the first chapter yesterday along the intro! But uh... we only have one PC... And mom needed to do somethin'.
> 
> Oh! I'm planning on adding tags as I add chapters! So there's almost no spoilers! (And as the story develops, so...) 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy the interactions in this chapter! =^)
> 
> (Edit: I fixed some mistakes and a bit more words to some parts.)
> 
> (ANOTHER EDIT: The story now has a cover! Here's the link to it! Give lots of love to the artist! :D)  
> https://boom-fanfic-a-latta.tumblr.com/post/643769911645290496

It was a nice day out. The sun was beating down a bit harshly, but the shade and breeze more than made up for it. At this moment, Luigi was on a bench, enjoying the day. He had visited Shroom Grocery to get the ingredients for tonight's dinner, and was planning on making pasta with chopped mushrooms, for himself and his brother, Mario.

Luigi sighed. It really _was_ nice. But he should head back now before anything else. So, he stood up from the bench and continued on his way.

As he walked, he thought about which recipe Mario should try next. Well, Even though Mario had been taking cooking lessons ever since his adventure at Prism Island. His cooking... wasn't the best. At first, Luigi was confused at his sudden enthusiasm for cooking, but Mario kept insisting. So he decided on teaching him something simple. Like cake.

And it was the worst cake he ever had. He tried to guide Mario as best as he could. But Mario was way too stubborn with what ingredient should go when. And... he _also_ burnt it to a crisp.

Though... Mario _had_ improved considerably ever since. So maybe he could try again? It had been quite a bit from Mario's last cooking lesson, considering the new adventure they both had. In fact, It was only yesterday that it ended, along with the Origami Festival.

Speaking of this new adventure, he actually managed to help Mario! Sure, he had a small role in all of it. ...And he was looking only for a certain key, that being the key to the front door of Peach's castle, but...  
Those other keys _helped!_

He grinned. He should ask Mario more details about his adventure. It would be interesting to hear about what he missed out on.

* * *

When he reached their shared house, he made a quick detour to the mailbox.

He thought he was being a bit paranoid, but who knows, maybe some interdimensional being needed Mario's help again.

He checked, and luckily there wasn't any mail. Good thing too. He felt that his brother was overworking himself lately. He deserved to take a well earned rest.

At that, he readjusted the bags on his arm and rushed up the steps.

He had to stop though, because the bags threatened to slip. So he readjusted the bags yet again and walked the rest of the way.

With his free hand, he got out the house keys and opened the door.

As he stepped inside, he noticed how just silent it was. He closed the door with his foot and placed the grocery bags on the kitchen counter.

He wondered if Mario went out while he was shopping, but that thought quickly went out as soon as he spotted a red hat on the couch. Remembering how hastily his brother took it off yesterday.

_Mario must've slept in then..._ He found it weird that he was still sleeping, actually. Even though he didn't seem like it, Mario was a morning person, and he was the one that actually woke Luigi up each morning.

Luigi looked at the kitchen clock, he woke up at 1 PM, and it was late evening now.

And with that, Luigi hurried upstairs. Mario should be hungry by now, but first of all, he should wake him up.

When he reached the top of the steps, he took a deep breath. _I should stop worrying. Nothing's wrong. Stop being so paranoid._ He walked over to Mario's room.

He stood in front of the door, noticing it was slightly open. _No, he didn't get kidnapped._ Instead of barging in, he decided to be polite, and knock.

Nothing.

He sighed and knocked again.

Silence.

"Mario! I'm back! Are you up yet?" He called out, worriedly.

_...Maybe he left for something? No, he almost never goes out without his hat._ He pulled the door slightly more open and saw an unmistakable lump on the bed. _Yeah, I shouldn't have worried._

He silently sighed, and let himself in, almost turning on the lights, but he stopped himself. He would not hear the end of it if he ended up burning Mario's eyes. So instead, he went over to the bedside table, and turned on the mushroom shaped lamp.

With the light he could see more clearly, the comforter was scrunched up and Mario was balled up underneath it. He... looked a bit silly to be honest.

Luigi sat down on the bed, and shook Mario gently. "Hey bro, when are you going to wake up?" He said lightly.

Mario did not react _at all_. He seemed to be in a very deep sleep.

Luigi decided to take advantage of this situation, and with a slight creak, he laid down on the bed, making sure his shoes didn't touch the mattress, and hugged his brother, but since he was facing away, he held onto his back.

Mario flinched at the sudden contact, and tried to move away. But Luigi wasn't having any of that, so he held onto him. Mario was a surprisingly good hugging partner. Despite all the psychical activity he did, he was quite squishy, as odd as that may sound. And Luigi knew he would get flustered if he brought that up too.

It was... actually really nice, being there... in this small moment of peace.

He apparently was starting to doze off, because after a while, he jumped when he heard Mario say his name.

"L-Luigi?" Mario whispered again. His voice was still raspy from sleep. "Sorry... " Luigi said sheepishly. "You looked so comfy that I wanted to join you."

"My arms hurt." Mario said, without skipping a beat.

"O-OH! Sorry! Was I pinning you down?" Luigi stammered out quickly.

"Mhm."

"Oh geez!" He quickly removed himself off Mario. "Sorry!"

"Don't worry." Mario said sleepily. "They're already a bit sore."

Luigi blinked. "They are?"

"It was when... I-I did the Thou- Thousand Fold-" He drew in a quick breath. "The arm th-thing."

"Oh...?"

"Y-Yeah."

After a bit of silence, Luigi spoke again. "I'm making dinner, Do you wanna help me out?"

"...I'm not hungry." Mario said flatly.

Luigi shot up, stunned. "What?! Not even a _little_ bit?"

"I'm n-not hun-hungry at all." Mario's voice was breaking.

He looked at the lump of blankets, and pulled them down gently. If he was worried earlier, now he was _really_ worried.

Mario... looked absolutely miserable. His hair was messy and his striped pajamas were incredibly rumpled in several places.

"Mario? Are- Is everything ok?"

Surprisingly, Mario shook his head.

He frowned. Mario usually denied the very idea of _admitting_ he was less than ok. Even if it hurt him in the long run. So, in a weird way, Luigi was actually _relieved_ at this. But... it meant that his brother was feeling **_really_** bad.

"What's wrong? A-Are you sick?"

Instead of answering, he pulled the sheets up over his head.

_Really?_ "Come on Mario... You can tell me."

He tried lowering the blankets again, but Mario quickly pulled them back up.

Deciding on a different strategy, he smiled and leaned on Mario. "Whatever's wrong... I'll help you out with it, ok?"


	3. Prologue (Part 2): Thinking and Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So! here's the next Prologue!  
> It took a while because I was procrastinating a BIT too much.  
> But it's here! Yeah!  
> Give thanks to the one that checked out the story before release!  
> https://boom-fanfic-a-latta.tumblr.com/
> 
> Everyone, enjoy!

Luigi had _no_ idea what was wrong.

After he tried reassuring Mario, his bro had started crying. _Hard._

All he could do was hug him awkwardly to try and calm him down. Mario usually was the one that calmed him down whenever he was upset. But this time, he was the one doing it. Luckily, he managed... But barely.

It was almost noon. And Mario hadn't eaten anything since they got back from the Origami Festival.

He hadn't wanted to eat yesterday, so Luigi would probably need to prepare something simple, yet filling.

After a bit of thinking, he got out the bacon and some pancake mix, lit the stove, and put some butter in a pan.

As he did, he couldn't help but wonder... Mario hadn't seemed to be looking _too_ bad that day...

* * *

**_Luigi sighed. "I'm beat."_ **

**_He stretched as he walked up the steps. When he reached the top, he opened the front door._ **

**_He looked back, expecting Mario to be next to him. Instead he was still next to the exit warp pipe. Looking at... something._ **

**_"Earth to Mario! Are you there?"_ **

**_Mario quickly looked up at the mention of his name, and smiled sheepishly. "Ah, sorry, what did you say?"_ **

**_Luigi pouted in fake annoyance. "Oh! It's nothing! Just wondering if you wanted to... you know..." Then, he motions to the opened door, smirking mischievously. "...Not be outside?"_ **

**_Mario's eyes widened a bit. "Oh. Sorry."_ **

**_He smiled a bit more genuinely. "Nah, don't worry about it."_ **

**_As they stepped inside, Mario let out a huge yawn._ **

**_"Tired?" Luigi asked._ **

**_"Yeah. I'm going to sleep."_ **

**_At that, Mario removed his hat, chucked it on the couch, and rushed up the stairs, out of sight._ **

**_"Well... I'm getting a snack."_ **

* * *

Okay... Maybe he _had_ seemed a bit out of it...

Luigi placed two pancakes on a red plate, and added a bit of syrup next to it.

So, he wasn't fine back then... It must've been something that happened during the festival... But what would upset Mario _this_ much?

He sighed. "Thinking about it won't help unless I ask him..."

And with that, he grabbed the finished dish and went upstairs.

* * *

_Why... Why didn't I tell her..._

_Well... I didn't know she was going to say it like **that**..._

_But... Why didn't I realize in time...?_

_I could've stopped her..._

_Why didn't I **stop** her?!_

_...It's my fault._

_She's gone because of me._

_I'm sorry..._

_I'm so **sorry**..._

_I'm such an idiot for not realizing._

_I'm so sorry O-_

"Heey! Mariooo!"

_Luigi's at the door._

_I need to calm down... But I can't stop crying... I-_

"I'm coming in, whether you like it or not!"

* * *

Luigi entered with a plate of pancakes and a big smile.

"So, how are you holding up Mario?"

_Horribly. I feel like I'm dying._

"I'm ok." He said instead, then shifted position so that he was sitting up. "What do you have there?" He tried to not sound like he had been crying for hours, but he suspected that he still did anyway.

Luigi's expression definitely confirmed it. "Are you sure?" Luigi whispered, placing the pancakes on the nightstand.

"Yeah." Mario reassured.

_Luigi doesn't believe me, does he?_

He sighed, and looked at the food that had been placed before him. He felt weak, had a pounding headache, was slightly nauseous—and was very much _not_ hungry.

"You gotta eat, Mario."

_...Is it really that obvious? Well, either way, I'm **not** going to._

"I'm sorry, but I'm _not_ hungry." He said, turning slightly to the side. Away from Luigi and the food.

Was he _really_ going to do this? In his mind, he knew he had to eat, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

He heard Luigi sigh. "Well... I can't force you to eat." Mario felt a hand on his shoulder. "But if you need me for anything, I'm downstairs, ok?"

At this, Luigi stood up, placed the pancakes on the nightstand, and left.

Mario shifted to a more comfortable position and closed his eyes.

_I'm such a jerk. I shouldn't treat Luigi like this... One. Just one..._

Mario started to reach over, but pain began to build in his arm. So he stopped trying.

He should've been more careful. But, he got into the heat of the moment... Bowser could have technically won by himself... couldn't he? Or maybe Olly really _was_ that strong?

...How would Olivia feel if she could see him now? Would she feel guilty? Or would she try to cheer him up?

He leaned back and noticed that the room had grown colder. It almost seemed like it would rain soon.

He pulled back the comforter over him and tried to relax. But it was quite hard to do so when there was nothing else to do but lay there and think.

And thinking would bring memories of what he had lost, causing him to break down all over again.

He stared at the dish, made lovingly by his brother.

_...I need to try, at least._

Mario pulled the comforter off himself, and sat on the edge of the bed.

"O-Ok..." He gingerly stood up, and grabbed the plate.

* * *

Luigi was sitting on the couch, thinking. But he still had no idea what to do.

All of a sudden, he heard footsteps coming from the stairs.

Luigi stood up quickly and rushed to the stairs. When he turned the corner, he saw Mario! He looked bedraggled, but he was there nonetheless.

"Oh! Mario!" Luigi exclaimed.

"Hey." Mario simply uttered, and turned to go into the kitchen.

Luigi ran behind him, and saw him place the food on the counter.

"Do you want something to go with it? Or maybe a drink?"

Mario glanced at Luigi. "No, it's... Er... how... about m-milk?" Mario managed to stammer out.

Without hesitation, Luigi rushed to the fridge and grabbed the milk carton.

"Warm? Or like this?" He said, pointing to the container.

Mario seemed a bit flustered, but managed to tell him that he wanted it warm.

"No problem!"

* * *

It was a little embarrassing to be babied like this...

Ok, it was really embarrassing.

But honestly, it made him feel a little better that Luigi would do this for him... Even if it was just milk. Maybe he was getting too sentimental today...

He turned towards the couch. "I'm going to sit down, ok?" Mario muttered.

"Ok! And I'm just about done!"

Mario went over and sat down.

...He was a bit uncomfortable, so he rested his head against the arm of the couch.

He realized just how tired he was. But, he wasn't all that sleepy... It felt like he had run many miles, but with his arms. Though that obviously wasn't the case, he guessed that the energy spent to help Bowser probably amounted to something similar?

Ah. There he goes again. He needed to stop thinking about it.

But like the annoying thing it was, his mind started to wander.

...

"M-Mario?"

He looked up. Luigi was hovering over him, cup and plate in hand.

"Were you crying?" Luigi asked worriedly.

He looked down. "I think so..."

Luigi sat next to him, worry on his face again.

"You don't have to eat if you don't want to."

"N-No... I'll eat it. But give me the milk first." At this, Mario sat up straighter, though a bit slouched.

Luigi smiled. "Ok, here you go." And handed the mug to Mario.

Mario took it, and grasped the handle with his other hand so as to not burn himself on the mug, and took a sip.

It was cool enough so it wouldn't burn. But... It tasted a bit weird, not bad though.

"Did you add something to this?" He asked.

"Yup! Added a bit of ginger to it." Luigi was beaming. He seemed to be so pleased with himself that Mario couldn't help but smile as well.

"It tastes really good. Thank you."

"How about the pancakes?" Luigi asked, pointing to Mario's lap. "Do you still want them?"

Mario looked down at the cooling pancakes and grinned.

"I'll eat them if you stop coddling me."

Luigi chuckled. "Deal."


End file.
